Steve,
I read the list every day and have for a few years. I
post occasionly but find the list very useful and this
group one of my most valuable resources in my
business. I think you do a great job. The only
suggestion that I have is, 'Is there some way to make
your life easier'? Otherwise don't fix what isn't
broken! Thanks for a great service.
Cliff Martin
--- "Steven M. Christensen" <steve at smc.vnet.net>
wrote:
>
> See my comments within the message below.
>
> Steve Christensen
>
>
> >
> > In article <cmfd5u$7ta$1 at smc.vnet.net>,
> > "Steven M. Christensen" <steve at smc.vnet.net>
> wrote:
> >
> > > I want to take the opportunity to reply to
> Paul's suggestion in
> > > as much detail as possible.
> > >
> > > I am sorry I was not at the event at the Wolfram
> Technology
> > > Conference when this was discussed.
> > >
> > > First, here are the steps I take each day to
> moderate this group.
> > > Figuring out where in these steps to put in
> categorization would need
> > > to fit into this.
> > >
> > > 1. I get perhaps 2500-3000 emails a day, every
> day. Of these, perhaps
> > > 500 are not spam. Because the Mathgroup
> addresses are easily found
> > > by spammers, there is no way around getting
> a lot of spam.
> >
> > Do you mean that the spammers are forging email
> addresses of MathGroup
> > participants and using these to post messages to
> MathGroup
> > (mathgroup at wolfram.com)? I can see how that would
> make things more difficult
> > to filter.
>
>
> Yes, this happens all the time. Spam comes to
> mathgroup via mailing
> list messages, newsgroup posts, spammers who have
> just found addresses
> in the newsgroups and archives.
>
>
> >
> > If I understand you correctly, requiring
> individuals to "register" with
> > you, possibly listing multiple email addresses,
> and bouncing email that
> > is not from registered participants, with a
> message telling them how to
> > register, would not work.
>
>
> No this would not work. I even get spam from
> wolfram.com addresses
> even though I know it did not come from there. I
> sometimes get
> spam from myself!
>
>
> >
> > Because I usually post from a news reader, my
> messages have the
> > following field:
> >
> > Newsgroups: comp.soft-sys.math.mathematica
> >
> > Could this be used as a filter (or do spammers
> forge this as well)?
>
>
> Spammers forge every element of posts.
>
>
> >
> > [As an aside, a solution to SPAM needs to be
> found. To me, it should
> > cost money, only of the order of a couple of
> cents, to send any email
> > message. You would need to purchase a valid
> one-off "e-stamp", using
> > some form of encryption technology, from some site
> (I'm suprised that
> > the automatic billing sites have not already done
> this). Then only valid
> > e-stamps would be routed though the network. There
> are, of course, many
> > issues with this proposal ...]
> >
> > > Further, because MathGroup users often,
> unfortunately,
> > > send html email or other attachments, maybe
> 10-20 of their mails get
> > > filtered by my, fairly sophisticated but not
> perfect, spam filters into
> > > my spam folder.
> >
> > To me, one of the major limitations of MathGroup
> is that we cannot
> > attach Notebooks (without including them in the
> body of the message).
>
>
>
> Attaching notebooks causes numerous problems.
>
> 1. Notebooks as attachments are very often rejected
> by spam filters
> either at ISP's, moderation level, or end users.
>
> 2. Can a windows user really trust that a notebook
> attachment is not
> a virus or worm? If I were using a Windows
> machine and saw an
> attachment, I would not open it.
>
> 3. Many notebooks are very long and some mail
> systems will not be able
> to handle them. Rules about attached notebooks
> would have
> to be devised. Not a simple matter given that I
> get so many
> posts that can't follow even simpler rules.
>
> It is far simpler to have someone put their notebook
> on a server somewhere
> where it can be downloaded and then include a link
> within the post.
>
>
> >
> > > 2. Of the 500 good emails that get past my spam
> filters, I then have to
> > > filter out those mails that are for
> Mathgroup. Then, I have to
> > > go through the spam folder to find any
> MathGroup posts that might be
> > > there. So,there are usually about 70 emails
> relevant to MathGroup.
> > > Some, maybe 10 do not follow the rules -
> flames, licensing questions,
> > > discussions of other systems, really trivial
> items, totally
> > > non-Mathematica
> > > related. In the end, there are 30-60 emails
> to read in more detail.
> >
> > Actually, if the Subject line included question
> categories as is being
> > proposed, couldn't you use this as the primary
> filter (or again, do
> > spammers forge this as well)?
>
>
> Again, spammers will grab email addresses, Subject
> lines, even
> content sometimes. Most of that comes to me where I
> filter it.
> But I have had some reports that people get email
> from mathgroup
> and I did not send.
>
>
> >
> > > 3. Once I decide that the posts are OK, I run
> them through a number of
> > > UNIX scripts and do some more editing to
> take out unneeded mail headers
> > > etc.
> > >
> > > 4. Then the mails are run through scripts that
> send them to the
> > > newsgroup and the mailing list. One of the
> scripts adds the
> > > numbers to the Subject line of the mail
> that goes to
> > > the mailing list. Note that the [ ] are
> really needed.
> >
> > As I read MathGroup in a newsreader or sometimes
> via Google at
> >
> >
>
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=comp.soft-sys.math.mathematica
> >
> > I do not see the numbers or the []. Google seems
> to handle threading
> > better than my newsreader.
> >
>
>
>
> The [mg ... ] numbers only go out to the mailing
> list to help with
> filtering. They will not be seen in the newsgroup
> or on google.
>
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